Alternative therapies and fertility
Can alternative therapies help you to conceive? From reflexology to acupuncture, find out whether complementary therapies have the power to boost your fertility and bring you that positive pregnancy test.

Meet other mums!
In your Birth Club, you can meet other mums and mums-to-be whose due date, or baby's birth date, is the same as yours. It's the perfect place to share advice, support and friendship with others who know what you're going through, because they are too!

Meet the new apps aimed at new mums

Tinder,OK Cupid,match.com, Bumble, Happn… the digital world is your oyster if you happen to be single and looking for love (or a quick shag, depending on which app you’ve signed up for), but what about if you’re a new mum who didn’t sign up to any NCT or Parentcraft classes and you don’t know anyone else in the same confusing, stressful and sleep-deprived boat?

Being a brand new parent can be a lonely and daunting place and the friends you make in those first few months can often become friends for life.

I remember when Hunter came along how isolated and at sea I felt. He cried all the time and for no obvious reason. I couldn’t breastfeed, no matter how hard I tried to make it work, and I felt like a total failure. When Andy went back to work after two short weeks, I was terrified about how I would cope on my own.

At that time, my NCT mum friends were a total lifeline: they were all in the same position as me and lived just around the corner so I could see them any time the loneliness and frustration got too much. We also looked out for one another, and as a group, could see that one of us was headed for PND and encouraged her to seek help.

But what if you don’t have those friends? If you’re facing all of this more or less alone? With all this in mind, you’d think that the digital market would be flooded with apps aimed at new mums, but until recently, there has been a real dearth of them.

Last year however, all that changed with the arrival of Peanut and Mush; both aimed at mums who need to find other new mums in their locality. What’s key about them both is that they match mums based on dating-app style criteria. If you’ve ever taken to the BabyCentre forums to seek advice and sympathy from mums with babies a similar age to yours, then these apps are probably perfect for you, since you can actually make friends with those mums in the real world.

Parents have been largely ignored by the digital world and its great to see the emergence of some apps that aim to change that. Yours truly has actually even contributed to Mush’s output!

Both apps are free to use and, like the dating apps, mums upload a profile and some personal information that will enable them to be matched with local mums that they have the most in common with. So if you are a new mum, or are about to have your first baby, then grab your device and get yourself hooked up with some like-minded mums to share your experience with. Who knows you may just find yourself a brand new MFF*.

*Mum Friend Forever.

If you want to talk to someone, make online friends, or just ask someone a parenting question – check out these community groups you may find useful:

If you're trying to make a baby join our popular Actively Trying group. Plenty of info, support and new online friendships to be made here.

If you're having IVF, this group is one of our most popular fertility groups. Share your story and experiences with others who have been, or who are, on the same journey as you.

Birth clubs - meet others who are pregnant and due the same month as you. And if you haven't already joined, but had your baby, do it now and meet those who had their baby when you had yours.

Struggling to find that perfect name? Ask for ideas, share suggestions or gauge the thoughts of others in our Baby Name group.

Love a bit of banter? Enjoy discussing the topics of the day? You need to join What's Your Opinion On? You'll be addicted.

Am I Being Unreasonable? Well here's a place to ask in our AIBU group.

If you're breastfeeding and want to find out about, well anything related - you can ask here or share your experiences to support other mums.

If you're a expectant father or dad then you'll enjoy talking to others in our dedicated Dad group.

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